STARKVILLE — When a deadly tornado swept through Tupelo in 1936, more than 200 lives and homes were lost. But as law enforcement and other authorities attempted to help the citizens recover, help came from an unexpected place – Starkville’s Troop 14 scouts.

“Troop 14 takes all their bicycles, and they all go to Tupelo, and they act as messengers for the authorities until they got communications back up and running,” Mark Guyton told the Rotary Club of Starkville on Monday during its annual awards banquet, which also celebrated Troop 14’s centennial. “It’s that kind of service that this troop has been doing for 100 years.”

Guyton is a longtime Starkville scout, growing up as a Cub Scout in Pack 14 and then transferring to Troop 14 when he was old enough, achieving the highest rank “Eagle” in 1974. Guyton also acts as the liaison between the local Rotary club and its three local Scouting America groups, and he presented some of Troop 14’s history and impact during the banquet.

Rotary as a whole began in the United States in 1905, Guyton said, while scouting started in the country in 1910. The group switched its name from Boy Scouts of America to Scouting America earlier this year. From the beginning, Guyton said, both organizations shared a goal of community service.

“Both programs fit together like a glove,” Guyton said. “And they’re just as good of a fit today as they were 100 years ago. Every time I think about that, that we’ve been doing this 100 years, I have a hard time fathoming that.”

Rotary Club of Starkville was established on April 21, 1924, when District Gov. Bolton Smith came from Memphis, Tennessee and presented the club with its first charter. Only 14 months later, Smith returned to the area for the chartering of Troop 14. The troop’s first 10-day summer camp program happened within a month on the banks of the Tombigbee River, Guyton said.

Troop 14 is one of three groups the local rotary club supports, Guyton said. The two other groups that operate in the city are Pack 14, for younger scouts, and Troop 142 for girls.

While other scouting troops are based in the Golden Triangle, one other area troop has also reached the 100 year mark. Troop One in Columbus was chartered in January 1925, Scoutmaster Tim Beatty told The Dispatch on Friday, but plans to celebrate its 100th anniversary later this summer.

Adventure and developing leaders

Ned Browning also grew up in scouting in east Alabama, and he became connected to Troop 14 when his son joined in the late ‘90s. He has also served as scoutmaster, and he has stayed connected with the group through Rotary.

“It was special to be able to influence the young men of the troop then,” Browning said. “I would find myself, when we were out on camping trips, interested that the guys would sit and listen to us around the campfire. … It’s fun to trace some of our scouts now over the decades who are now leaders in the community themselves.”

Brent Fountain has a similar lifelong love of scouting. He got involved with Troop 14 about 23 years ago, after moving to Starkville, and he has been assistant scoutmaster for most of that time. While he didn’t have kids when he started serving the troop, he knew he wanted to get involved to give back to the organization that gave him so much.

Fountain said one of the most memorable experiences he had with Troop 14 was a “shakedown” hike, where scouts carry as little with them as possible while still being prepared for the elements. In 2006, while he was on one of those trips through the Sipsey wilderness in Alabama, it started to snow. And then it didn’t stop.

“It started snowing and snowed for the two days, just continuing to come down, and we had to cross the Thompson Creek a couple of times,” Fountain said. “So it was that kind of idea that… we’re not just going to walk out there and let our pants get wet and let our shoes get wet. We’re going to take our shoes off, put them around our neck, we’re going to walk across. Again, being safe, but it was kind of that adventurous attitude like ‘you’re going to survive the elements out here because this is what we do.’”

One of Fountain’s favorite things to watch the scouts learn, he said, was how to become leaders and learn to problem solve themselves along with serving the community.

Community service memories

While scouts enjoy activities like hiking and camping, along with other activities designed to help them develop character and leadership skills, they are also required to complete service projects to advance in their ranks, Guyton said. Members of Troop 14 have completed “countless hours” of service, including projects both inside and outside the city.

“I’ve seen some go down to the (Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge) and build a bridge that a few hunters a year use, and those aren’t my favorite,” Guyton said. “The ones that are in town, that you see getting used every day, those are the ones that it seems to me are really making a difference.”

Toby Steed also grew up in scouting, though he didn’t start interacting with local troops until he and his family moved to Starkville in 2014. His son, Dalton Steed, started as a Cub Scout in Pack 14 before moving up to Troop 14 and eventually earning the rank of Eagle there. Steed became committee chair of the troop in 2015 and served as scoutmaster for five years starting in 2017.

During his time as scoutmaster, Steed said, he has gotten to take the group on two different sailing adventures in Florida, along with teaching woodworking and fire making to the members. But he has also gotten to serve the community in a variety of ways, following the scouts’ lead.

“We’ve done everything from pick up trash at the Cotton District Arts Festival to building bridges and walkways out at the wildlife refuge and at the Wise Center, we built a bridge,” Toby said.

Dalton worked with two other scouts while earning the rank of Eagle, Steed said, to renovate the disc golf course at J.L. King Park.
“My task on that project was to pour all nine concrete (pads,)” Dalton said.

Fountain said his son was another of the three scouts involved in the J.L. King Park disc golf project. He was glad to see the values he learned as a scout pass on to his son, but also to see the greater impact the scouts had on the city.

“It’s certainly good for the scouts and the scouters, the youth and the adults involved in that program,” Fountain said. “And it certainly is building the community’s success in ways that you can measure, but you never can fully appreciate all the lives that it has touched.”

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